Chapter 55 - 52: I Will Kill You
A cold wind swept past.
A spear, thrust with overwhelming force, had appeared behind Han Qiu Master without warning, stabbing straight for her heart.
CLANG!
Han Qiu Master, as if long prepared, blocked the spear with her sword.
"Fellow Daoist Han Qiu, to think you were secretly on guard against me."
"Hah! My Miao Yu Palace graciously invited your Canglan Sect to discuss the Dao. The discussion had barely begun before something happened. Does your Canglan Sect truly take me for a fool?"
Icy lotuses bloomed beneath Han Qiu’s feet before transforming into a sword.
The sword births lotuses—the Lotus Sword!
Hunting Deer Master couldn’t help but retreat several steps.
When it came to weapons, there was a saying: an inch longer is an inch stronger. A spear was naturally superior to a sword. But at their level, weapons were mere decorations. The ultimate contest was one of their respective Magic and Dao.
Besides, this was Miao Yu Palace, the home ground of the Three True Masters of Miao Yu. Han Qiu Master’s Dao was naturally a bit stronger here.
"After I capture you, I’ll find Han Ze and we’ll teach that traitor Hanyi a lesson!"
Han Qiu Master flew into the air. Her myriad Swordsmanship techniques finally converged into a downward-pressing force, bearing down on Hunting Deer Master’s spear with the weight of a mountain.
The stone beneath Hunting Deer Master’s feet cracked inch by inch, while a more distant mountain peak was directly shattered by the impact.
"Fellow Daoist Han Qiu is formidable indeed!"
He had no choice but to spin, then stomp hard on the ground, using the force to advance his spear.
Han Qiu Master paid him no heed. Leaping into the air, she sent a sharp kick sweeping directly toward Hunting Deer Master’s face, followed by a White Cloud Covering Sword technique. A shockwave of air exploded outward.
She pressed her hands together and uttered a single word, "Condense!"
Dao Flowers that drained Life Force began to bloom on Hunting Deer Master’s body, threatening to suck him completely dry.
Hunting Deer Master roared, "If you don’t make your move, are you going to wait until this old bag of bones dies under her sword?"
A sense of crisis flared, and Han Qiu Master was forced to instantly pull back several feet.
Suddenly, a grating KABENG sound echoed from all around, setting one’s teeth on edge.
"Fellow Daoist Hunting Deer’s Spear Technique isn’t bad. You’ve given this old man quite a show."
A gaunt old man appeared behind Han Qiu Master. He was carrying a huge coffin on his back. With a THUD, the coffin hit the ground, and a sky-full of black miasma erupted from within it. Countless spiders and centipedes crawled out.
Han Qiu Master watched this all with cold eyes, then slashed another massive beam of sword light toward the two of them.
Withered Corpse Master said, "Stubbornly resisting!"
His body swelled in the wind, quickly transforming into a withered giant. The giant’s chest opened to reveal a mouth filled with sharp teeth, which actually swallowed Han Qiu Master’s Sword Qi whole.
"Hm?"
When the two looked toward Han Qiu Master again, she was already gone.
On her home ground, Han Qiu Master was confident she could kill Hunting Deer Master in a one-on-one fight. But in a one-on-two, the tables would be completely turned. So she fled immediately to find Han Ze Master.
"She runs fast enough."
Withered Corpse Master revealed his yellowed teeth. "Then, as agreed, this old man will take the Celestial Pure True Lotus."
A wondrous object like the Celestial Pure True Lotus couldn’t just be taken away. Its frigid qi had to be sealed with a special technique. Otherwise, wherever the Celestial Pure True Lotus went, that place would turn into a glacier. Anyone who touched it would have their eight meridians frozen solid, losing all their vitality.
And as it happened, Withered Corpse Master had just such a tool. He had been refining his coffin for a long time, using tens of thousands of corpses to finally forge the Soul-Locking Coffin. Hanyi had already helped him sever one of its chains. Now, he only needed to expend a little effort to take the Celestial Pure True Lotus away.
Hunting Deer Master said with a smile, "Be my guest."
Withered Corpse Master went straight into the abyss.
After a long moment, a furious roar echoed: "Who?! Who took the Celestial Pure True Lotus!?"
No one answered him.
Because...
The sky was turning blood-red, and the stench of blood filled the air.
~~~~~~~~~~~
"Young Master, you’re really not lying to me?"
Beneath the Miao Yu waterfall.
The figures of Lu Changyuan and Xia Lianxue slowly solidified.
Lu Changyuan said helplessly, "I’m not lying. I really will marry you."
Xia Lianxue’s voice was as light as a feather. "Really? How about... Young Master, you marry Su Youwan and my senior sister too? I... Your fiancée really won’t mind."
’What a deadly question.’
’What would happen if I said I’d marry them all?’
The clamor and cries of battle in the distance reached them, and blood stained half the sky, but none of it seemed to affect Lu Changyuan and Xia Lianxue.
"Don’t overthink it. We’ll deal with what comes later, later."
Lu Changyuan circulated the Supreme Pure Spirit Forget Immortal Technique to help the Little Fairy calm her heart.
THUMP!
Xia Lianxue felt something thumping. Listening closely, she realized it was her own heart.
She felt as if her heart was about to melt. She didn’t know why, but whenever she realized Lu Changyuan was caring for her, all her emotions would soften into water.
Xia Lianxue looked at Lu Changyuan gently. The moonlight fell upon her, seeming to coat her in a layer of divinity.
Lu Changyuan was just about to ask what a Drunken Red Simurgh was, but the rustling of bamboo leaves from nearby reached his ears. Someone was coming.
It was a woman, carrying a massive coffin on her back.
Hanyi Master had already retrieved the coffin containing her lover’s body and moved far from the center of the conflict.
She suddenly coughed up a mouthful of blood.
She had suffered backlash from the Grand Array twice in a row. The injuries from breaking the Array were so painful she could barely breathe.
But in the end, she was joyful. It was all worth it.
Once this matter was over, she would be with her Lin Lang forever. So what if the Grand Array left her with incurable hidden injuries?
But she still needed to find a place to regulate her breathing and recover. Miao Yu Palace was in chaos right now—where could she find some peace and quiet?
The forbidden grounds, of course.
Normally, this place was deserted. Now that Miao Yu Palace was in complete disarray, it was even more certain that no one would come here.
Hanyi Master had already calculated it. She would rest here for one hour, then take her lover down the mountain and leave this place far behind.
She had even bought a plot of land and built a house in a small, nearby country.
Everything was going according to her plan.
Soon, she would be able to live the life she had longed for three hundred years ago.
But of all the things that could happen, of all the rotten luck!
Here, of all places, she had to run into the disciple left behind by that Han Shui!
Hanyi Master roared in anger, "Xia Lianxue, you’re actually alive."
The White Skirt Fairy was leaning against Lu Changyuan’s chest. Only in his arms could she know that all of this was real, not a dream.
But this moment of peace was shattered.
By the very person who had used a vicious technique to destroy her Cultivation.
Xia Lianxue reluctantly pulled away from Lu Changyuan’s embrace. The fondness in her eyes vanished in a flash, and when she looked at Hanyi Master again, her gaze was filled with icy coldness.
She said softly, "Young Master, you said you would bring me back to kill my way here and take revenge with my own hands."
Lu Changyuan stared, his eyes wide, looking at the Fairy’s straight back and her jet-black hair.
For a fleeting moment, Lu Changyuan felt that Xia Lianxue was surprisingly cold.
It was as if the soft, tender Fairy who had just been in his arms had instantly transformed into a murderous moon.
The autumn wind carried a hint of early chill.
It wasn’t cold, but it was shockingly painful.
Xia Lianxue held her sword in one hand and stared at Hanyi Master. The Fairy’s lips were cherry-red, and a lovely flush remained on her cheeks, but the words she spoke were brimming with killing intent.
"I’m going to kill you."